Town repeats support of immigrants

At their meeting Tuesday night, the Silver City Town Council stopped short of saying they would be a “sanctuary city” for refugees and undocumented immigrants, but renewed and strengthened a resolution already in place that keeps town agencies from assisting any measures that single out immigrants. The town also began the long, unpredictable road to developing a budget through the continuing financial crisis in Santa Fe.

Communities around the state and nation have named themselves “sanctuary cities” in response to a controversial escalation of detainments and deportations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Rather than technically adding Silver City to that growing list, the Town Council found that their previous iteration had already approved a similar resolution in 2003.

That resolution was approved in reaction to the U.S.A. Patriot Act, enacted by then-President George W. Bush. The resolution, approved by the council under then-Mayor Terry Fortenberry, said clearly that no town resident’s rights should be infringed upon for any reason.

“Whereas federal, state and local governments should protect the public from terrorist attacks such as those that occurred on September 11, 2001, the Town Council of Silver City believes that there is no inherent conflict between national security and the preservation of liberty — Americans can be both safe and free,” the resolution read then.

The 2003 resolution, as well as the current council’s proclamation on Tuesday repeated the resolution as “A Reaffirmation and Celebration of the Core Values of the Town of Silver City.” It also again directed all town agencies, including law enforcement, to report to the town manager, Town Council and town attorney “any request by federal authorities that, if granted, would require such agencies to exercise powers or cooperate in the exercise of powers in apparent violation of any city ordinance or the laws of the Constitution of this state or the United States.”

More specifically, Mayor Ken Ladner said Tuesday’s proclamation directed the Silver City Police Department to not use their “limited resources” for searching, surveilling, seizing or detaining possible undocumented people who have not committed a crime in Silver City. It also keeps the department from making any inquiries into the citizenship status of people they encounter, which is already a policy. The proclamation also keeps the department from complying with any request from other law enforcement to detain, surveil or identify undocumented people who have committed no crime.

To ensure this proclamation was followed, Councilor Guadalupe Cano requested the proclamation be shown to all Silver City police officers.

“All of us are aware that there are a lot of new police officers who haven’t probably read the resolution of 2003,” she said. “We don’t expect them to read every resolution we have passed. I want to make sure they see and understand this.”

Cano also asked that the proclamation be printed in local newspapers, in both English and Spanish.

When the council passed the proclamation unanimously, most of the crowd gave them a round of applause.

Jane Foraker-Thompson, a local reverend and former professor of criminology and corrections at Boise State University, spoke in favor of the proclamation’s support of refugees from dangerous Central American countries, families of local residents which include undocumented immigrants, and Dreamers — those undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. when they were very young.

“These Dreamers, most of them are in school, some are in college,” Foraker-Thompson said. “They have been good citizens. They seek to be good citizens. Rather than detain and deport them, we should provide them an easy path to citizenship.”

Candy Luhrsen, though, said the new increases in ICE raids were after dangerous people, not the good.

“What about the violent criminals that are here illegally?” she asked. “Are we not going to turn them over to ICE? I don’t think any of us are talking about the Dreamers or anyone who is trying to be good, productive people while they are here. And, since Governor [Susana] Martinez said this was not a sanctuary state in 2011, does this city think they are above the state?”

Luhrsen also posited that paper grocery sacks are worse for the landfill and the environment than the plastic bags they have replaced since the Silver City single-use plastic bag ban of 2015.

District 28 Sen. Howie Morales continued his tour of local governments following the recent 2017 legislative session.

While there, he confirmed the council’s long-held fears that — during the expected, upcoming special session — the governor will push for a full repeal of the Hold Harmless reimbursements to local governments, which would hurt Silver City more than almost any other municipality.

“I wish I could say the Hold Harmless issue was behind us,” Morales said. “But there is a lot of money there. And, every dollar they can take away from somewhere else and not call it a tax increase, is very likely. But I will continue to fight. You can’t balance your budget on the backs of local governments. Weak local governments means a weak state.”

A full repeal of Hold Harmless would mean a $1.3 million revenue cut to the town of Silver City, which is already bracing for a $329,000 cut with the latest phaseout increase.

Town Manager Alex Brown is currently working on the town’s fiscal year 2018 budget, planning on even that, grim, best case scenario. If the full amount is cut, Brown said, it would be catastrophic.

Brown will return to the council for budget hearings at each bimonthly meeting until the final budget must be approved.